In other words, for consumers, the use of beacon tech would mean no more irrelevant and cluttered advertisements. They’d get content and offers they actually want directly on their mobile phones. On the other end of the spectrum, for retailers, this would mean establishing a one-to-one relationship with a customer and getting permission to do so (because the consumer downloaded your app after all).

If you want to more about how beacons work, here’s an explanation (from a retailer’s point of view):

Arthur Policarpio, CEO of Mobext Philippines, shares that the partnership aims to build the “largest location-based marketing or ‘point-of-sales’ mobile marketing network” in the Philippines. Policarpio believes IDDI’s approximate 1,000 screens would be effective in entering major retail locations across the country. Add this to Globe’s millions of subscribers and Mobext’s mobile tech and strategy expertise and you pretty much have a dream partnership.

How Brands Use Beacon Tech

Beacons are commonly used to push notifications on promos and rewards. For example, local businesses at Honolulu, Hawaii, are tapping into beacon tech, reports HawaiiStar. Happy Hour Pal app helps people who are dining out to save money by alerting them of happy hour specials in their locality.

Image Credit: Macy’s

Meanwhile, Macy’s, an American department store chain, did a test run of beacon tech last year in its New York and San Francisco branches. Now, ZDNet reports it expects installation of beacons in all its stores across the entire United States to be completed by early fall. This means more than 4,000 beacons would be operational just in time for the holiday shopping season. Aside from pushing reward and coupons, Macy’s was also able to monitor consumers’ purchases, which could prove useful in major business decisions like marketing.

Another effective use for beacon tech is to enhance in-store experience of customers as in the case of Apple. Mobext, which has an informative primer on beacon tech, sums Apple’s use of beacons here.

There are “endless possibilities” for the use of beacons, according to a provider. Here’s a video on what those possibilities look like: